You know I love kiln filler…
so I last night I made another batch of Christmas ornaments.
More of August’s entry in the Holiday Ornament Challenge.
Tonight there were glazed and now they’re already in the kiln!

With a quick coating of clear glaze, my Jack O’Lanterns went into the kiln tonight. Sure… they may look green right now, but that green glaze will turn clear in the firing. I hope…

With a change in the weather, a chilly breeze and wet soggy day… it was the perfect chance to focus on Fall. “Art In The Barn” is just two weeks away. My festive Jack O’Lanterns are dried and waiting for their time in the kiln. So I figured it was time to work on this year’s addition to “The Ghoulish Collection.” In the past we’ve had Pumpkins, Skulls, Frankensteins & Vampires. And while some of these might be “retired” soon… it’s time for a new addition to the collection. So in the next few days, these simple cylinders will be Monster-fied!!!

Tonight I made some small textured terra cotta trays for my latest batch of salt & pepper shakers. They’re drying on a plastic grid with the hope that it will help avoid warping.

Of course the weights I put on top of them will help too!!!

With a little colored underglaze, my little pumpkins really came to life tonight. With green stems and orange warts, these Jack O’Lanterns are ready to start drying.

Resting on an elevated plastic grate to help dry them quicker and more evenly, it’s always fun to see the whole batch of pumpkins smiling back at you!

Next up?…. a quick coat of clear glaze and then a trip into the kiln!
Once fired, all of these pumpkins will be coming with me to “Art In The Barn”
in a couple weeks… September 28th & 29th in Barrington.

Tonight was a really fun night. My own personal “pumpkin carving party.”
And the best part?… I didn’t have to dig out the seeds and pumpkin guts.
Just the fun of carving one pumpkin after another!

And so much fun to see all of these smiling faces looking back at me as they’re piling up all around my studio. Every shelf, every table. Pumpkins everywhere!!! Each one with a different personality. Each one making me smile.

So now they’re all carved & “warted” and ready to start drying slowly. Next up?… a few color accents here & there. But that’s fun for another night!

Well, looky here… a pumpkin patch popped up in my studio tonight! Soon enough, these pumpkins will be “harvested” to become festive Jack O’Lanterns!

I unloaded my kiln late this evening. It was nice & cool by the time I came back from my fun day at the Renaissance Faire. Unbricking the door is always kind of exciting as you see more & more of the pieces revealed layer by layer. When the door is gone, it’s time to start unloading… and re-loading into crates to get it all home! The front of the kiln is a little heavy on the soda… but I knew I had to add a little extra & force it through if I was ever to get it into the tightly packed kiln. And it worked… even though the front & top has a bit more soda than I personally like, the majority of the middle & back was perfect!!!

Unfortunately, I got a little caught up in the unloading and didn’t do so well with the picture taking?! So, there will be more photos to come when I unpack at home…

So, another month has come to an end. Which also means that another “deadline” for the monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge has come as well. I know I put off making mine until the very last moment. But being in the studio all day long today while firing the soda kiln turned out to be the perfect opportunity to get my ornaments made! So I started by making some textured stars… some outlines, some solids… well okay, the solids are really just the cut-out form the outline ones!

And then I did a little assembling & “bulging” of the solid star to make it them even more dimensional. I’m thinking that they might still get a coat of white slip on the center star to help them “pop” from the other one. We’ll see…

And what about Sarah Chapman’s ornament you may ask?… well, it seems as though another month has passed that Sarah didn’t have time to make her entry. I know she’s been busy with last weekend’s Bucktown Arts Fest, and dealing with a lot of family issues since the passing of her mother. So maybe we need to give her a pass?… or not. Maybe we just call her a slacker?!!!

It was a long & productive evening in the studio. I’m loading the soda kiln tomorrow night… and I still have a LOT of glazing & wadding to do. Tonight I filled the front half of my studio cart… tomorrow I tackle the other side. When the cart is full, I know I’m pretty close to a full soda kiln!